Results 81-100 of 158 for speaker:Patricia Stephenson

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: Uisce Éireann: Future Work Programme (28 May 2025)

Patricia Stephenson: Does Mr. Gleeson see a direct correlation there with the lack of multi-annual funding?

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: Uisce Éireann: Future Work Programme (28 May 2025)

Patricia Stephenson: My colleague, Deputy Rory Hearne, received correspondence from the Ceann Comhairle when he tabled a parliamentary question on Uisce Éireann to the Department of housing. He received correspondence back saying that Uisce Éireann is not accountable to the Department of housing. Is that Mr. Gleeson's understanding of the lines of responsibility? Would Uisce Éireann, as a...

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: Uisce Éireann: Future Work Programme (28 May 2025)

Patricia Stephenson: I am asking because there has been a bit of football with regard to responsibilities when people are in the public sphere. There has been a narrative around chronic water challenges and issues, and there has been a sort of "It is the Department's fault", "No, it is Uisce Éireann's fault", and a challenge there around where responsibility lies. I am not saying that necessarily to point...

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: Uisce Éireann: Future Work Programme (28 May 2025)

Patricia Stephenson: I think from what Mr. Gleeson has said today I will know the response to this, but I think Uisce Éireann's chairperson a few weeks, or maybe months, ago had an article in The Irish Times that talked about Uisce Éireann not having a mandate around future growth related to housing developments. What is the status of that now?

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: Uisce Éireann: Future Work Programme (28 May 2025)

Patricia Stephenson: Yes, I can imagine Uisce Éireann then updates the system there. Uisce Éireann is in the programme for Government, the growth and development programme, and the NDP - various policy documents. It has a connection to growth within those documents, so I suppose there is a slight contradiction in that regard. The Department or Government feels Uisce Éireann has a remit, or a...

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: Uisce Éireann: Future Work Programme (28 May 2025)

Patricia Stephenson: The issue might be a lack of supply or lack of a treatment plant, which is impacting on the growth of development.

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: Uisce Éireann: Future Work Programme (28 May 2025)

Patricia Stephenson: When the witness was speaking before about the prefabs, was that to do with water supply or treatment?

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: Uisce Éireann: Future Work Programme (28 May 2025)

Patricia Stephenson: A standard approach for those prefabs was talked about. How do they differ from existing wastewater treatment infrastructure? We probably all have many examples from our own areas of communities being told they will not have new developments for the next five years. What does that look like? How does it differ from what exists? The positives are that it can get done, but what are the...

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: Uisce Éireann: Future Work Programme (28 May 2025)

Patricia Stephenson: Is there any barrier to doing that legislatively or-----

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: Uisce Éireann: Future Work Programme (28 May 2025)

Patricia Stephenson: Okay, there is.

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: Uisce Éireann: Future Work Programme (28 May 2025)

Patricia Stephenson: The EPA wants to double-check-----

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: Uisce Éireann: Future Work Programme (28 May 2025)

Patricia Stephenson: An agreement from the EPA would be where-----

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: Uisce Éireann: Future Work Programme (28 May 2025)

Patricia Stephenson: This is my final question. Deputy Tóibín touched around environmental resiliency in terms of climate, water supply during warmer weather and things like that. I would love to hear a bit more about that. It is one of those issues where people always say, "No hosepipe ban in Ireland". We always hear that remark. What are the challenges around that? What can be done to make it...

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: Uisce Éireann: Future Work Programme (28 May 2025)

Patricia Stephenson: Mr. Laffey is talking about the treatment plant having a higher standard of wastewater coming out of it. Is that the only mitigation or are there other mitigations that could be put in place?

Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Business of Joint Committee (27 May 2025)

Patricia Stephenson: I am based in Carlow-Kilkenny but am originally from Belfast. I also have a huge interest in this area. I spent approximately a decade working in the international development and aid sector. I spent six years living in various countries in east Africa. I am particularly interested in exploring the challenges we are seeing in the aid sector and the mitigations we can put in place as a...

Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Business of Joint Committee (27 May 2025)

Patricia Stephenson: I thank the Minister of State for coming in. I welcome his words on gender equality, women’s empowerment and maternal health, and I am glad the issue of development more broadly will be on the agenda for Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of Europe. I would like to see an increase and continued focus on funding for women's rights organisations, which I know Ireland has...

Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Business of Joint Committee (27 May 2025)

Patricia Stephenson: The Minister of State's comments have triggered a few points for me too so I will run through them quickly, since I only have two minutes. Obviously matters relating to the EU-Israel trade agreement are all concerning, but in the Irish Presidency, I would like to prioritise how we ever give credibility back to any trade agreement with the EU and another bilateral country. I feel like...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Business of Joint Committee (27 May 2025)

Patricia Stephenson: I congratulate the Cathaoirleach and look forward to working with him. I think I share the sentiments of the majority of speakers. I am from the North, so I am glad to see there are a number of us representing the North on this committee. I am a child of the Good Friday Agreement, so it is a personal honour for me to be on this committee. I look forward to working with all members. There...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (21 May 2025)

Patricia Stephenson: This is Traveller Pride Week. In recognition of this, I request that we have a debate on Traveller rights in Ireland. Traveller rights are human rights. As a result, this is an issue we should all be speaking about across the Oireachtas. The Traveller community has a rich and resilient culture that has endured and contributed a great amount to Irish life, despite generations of exclusion,...

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: Large-scale Capital Projects: Discussion (21 May 2025)

Patricia Stephenson: I apologise because Senator Flynn and I had to leave for vote, so I might have missed some context for what was said while we were out. I lend my support to what Deputies McCormack and Clendennen said about rural Ireland and the delays we are seeing in local housing developments. I do not want to use overly dramatic words, but I have heard from many councillors who refer to the death of...